How the six goals were scored: Kane scored his and England’s first goal in the 12th minute from the penalty spot after getting two bites at it. Kane had seen his first penalty saved by Dominik Livakovic, but VAR ruled that the Croatia keeper had stepped off his line early, so a retake of the penalty was ordered. This time, Kane made no error! Then, Croatia scored a wonder goal in the 36th minute from Martin Baturina, when he put his foot through the ball to send it past a diving Pickford into goal. England’s one-goal lead was restored once again by England captain Kane when he headed the ball in just minutes before half-time. But Petar Musa scored with the final kick of the first half to ensure that both teams went to the dug out with a 2-2 scoreline. At the restart, it took just two minutes for Bellingham to go on a haring down down the right flank before shooting the ball past the keeper for England’s third goal!

The final goal came after Rashford was fed the ball from the right flank by Saka with a diagonal cross. Rashford composed himself before shooting the ball past the keeper into the goal.

The game had promised to be a mouth-watering clash between two European heavyweights and it did not disappoint. Croatia finished third at Qatar 2022 and were beaten finalists in Russia 2018. England, meanwhile, are perennially discussed as a pre-tournament favourite, at least by their own fans and media.

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